This invention relates to the production of metals from metallic oxides by making use of a carbonaceous material in furtherance of the disclosure contained in applicants"" pending application bearing Ser. No. 09/241,649 filed on Feb. 1, 1999 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,214,085 and assigned to Art Unit 1742. Specifically this invention incorporates further developments to the subject matter disclosed in the referenced application particularly with respect to the feeding of raw materials, the heating of same, and reacting these raw materials with one another. Also additional developments are herein disclosed with respect to melting and slagging operations in order to provide an efficient integrated process and apparatus to practice same that are environmentally friendly and cost-competitive in the production of metals.
It is well known that existing methods to process raw metallic materials into ferrous and non-ferrous products are inefficient, polluting and very costly to finance, to operate and to maintain. Further, there are issues which relate to health hazards that affect workers in these fields by virtue of exposure to extremely high temperatures, and inhalation of injurious dusts and foul gases.
The method and apparatus disclosed herein have applicability to the processing of various metallic ores such as ores of iron, aluminum, copper, etc. including dusts, wastes and reverts of such metallic materials. Since iron ore is such a dominant feedstock in the field of metallurgy, by way of example, the disclosure in this application will focus on the processing of iron ore termed xe2x80x9ccarbotreatingxe2x80x9d with a carbonaceous material such as coal to produce an iron/carbon product which is melted with an oxidant termed xe2x80x9coxymeltingxe2x80x9d to make a molten iron.
The main object of this development is to provide a method and apparatus which are energy efficient to reduce greenhouse gases.
Another object of the instant invention is to provide a method and apparatus that are environmentally closed which will allow ease of permitting and acceptance by various entities including environmental protection agencies and the public.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a functionally efficient method and apparatus to practice same in order to produce a low cost product to enable industry to survive in a competitive global market.
Further still another object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus that require low capital investment to enable industry to finance facilities and create jobs.
Further yet another object of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus that are not injurious to employees both from the standpoint of hazardous working conditions and long term deleterious effects regarding health.
Other objects of this invention will appear from the following description and appended claims. Reference is made to the accompanying drawings which describe certain apparatus structures to practice this method of making metallic units, and as they relate to making iron in the form of directly reduced iron, hot briquetted iron, iron/carbon product and molten iron. The molten iron may subsequently be converted into steel directly while molten or cast into pigs which are cooled and then transported as a solid to a processing plant. It is to be understood that the method and apparatus disclosed herein are not solely limited to the processing of iron bearing materials.